Meituan Tuanmaimai ceases operations. Let me tell you my expectations for WeChat e-commerce

Meituan Tuanmaimai has ceased operations, and the pattern of WeChat e-commerce has also undergone substantial changes: the official has ended. The ecological pattern has changed, so will the various groups be far behind?

Yesterday, Tuanmaimai, a private distribution platform under Meituan, officially announced that it would cease operations.

The boss gets rich, and I am the big fish. The social group buying track is as cold as this winter.

Following the massive layoffs of a certain chain company, the collapse of sales in the Kuaituan system, and the collapse of the largest supply chain platform in the private domain, there is another big melon.

The suspension of group buying does not mean the end of winter, but may be the prelude to closures and bankruptcies. In such a cold market, how can anything be safe?

I will not discuss the suspension of group buying. Let me talk about my expectations for WeChat e-commerce.

01 The shocking change in WeChat domain

For those doing business in the WeChat domain, 2024 may be the biggest change since the explosion of public accounts in 2015.

This year, the WeChat e-commerce landscape has undergone substantial changes, and that is the real outcome for the official.

“WeChat Store” may be a major turning point when we look back on it after a long time.

Video accounts started in 2020. After three years of struggling, WeChat has figured out the general direction of how to enter the e-commerce business.

“Tencent does not have e-commerce genes”?

When will the gene come out? In the latest Tencent 2024 interim financial report "Business Review and Outlook", Pony Ma pointed out several key data:

1. The transaction volume of mini programs in Q3 2023 was 1.5 trillion yuan. Working backwards, the annual transaction volume of WeChat mini programs reached 6 trillion yuan.

2. The financial report pointed out that "the total user usage of mini programs increased by more than 20% year-on-year. Thanks to its strong transaction and content ecology, the transaction volume facilitated by mini programs achieved a double-digit percentage growth year-on-year."

Scary, isn’t it? Today, mini programs have become a behemoth, and they still have a 20% growth rate.

However, mini programs are like the "elephant in the room", and no one can see its existence.

The data from the mini program confirms one thing: you can sell goods and do e-commerce on WeChat.

However, although mini programs are good, they are just third-party tools that help others, and WeChat itself cannot make much money.

The 300 yuan certification fee and the pitiful 1,600 yuan bank handling fee (with maybe a 1% commission rebate) became the landlord's "meager income".

Can I do it myself?

WeChat Stores carry Tencent’s e-commerce dream.

With the launch of WeChat stores, the WeChat domain has become a dual transaction platform, which is bound to squeeze the market share of mini programs.

This will have a huge impact on several business formats, including brand private domains, mini-program distribution platforms, and WeChat business personal payment collection.

Any guesses as to why group buying was suspended?

Because they can’t make money? What a joke. Which of the positions that Meituan has obtained was not obtained by subsidizing long-term losses?

The battle between Meituan and Ele.me, the battle between Meituan and Duoduo Maicai? They are willing to bear losses of tens of billions.

It is not scary if you don't make money, but if you have no future, you must stop. Spending one more penny is a strategic mistake.

Meituan’s exit was not caused by competition among social group buying platforms; the dramatic changes in the WeChat domain may be the main motive.

So the ecological structure has changed, and if group buying collapses, will all kinds of group buying be far behind?

Figure it out yourself!

02 The impact is not limited to WeChat domain

On December 18, the annual meeting of Dayu e-commerce circle members was held. In the past few days, I have been preparing to share practical content, and I have also had in-depth communication with Tencent’s official partners.

Will have a deeper understanding of ecology:

All departments of Tencent have already used WeChat Stores as a monetization platform.

Tencent Advertising ADQ launch.

It is basically defaulted that merchants’ placements will be undertaken through WeChat stores, rather than the previous mini-programs, or directly adding private domains.

Tencent Cloud and Retail Division.

We will also focus on guiding super brands to conduct transactions on WeChat stores so that they can provide overall traffic and technical empowerment.

Video account business.

It is also tightly integrated with WeChat stores and has launched various distribution and marketing functions to help merchants migrate from Douyin and Taobao as much as possible and from the disorder of mini-programs.

WeChat stores will have a revolutionary impact. Let me borrow a page of the PPT from the annual meeting to explain my views:

Summarizing the trends in the consumer industry, I have concluded that “source-to-terminal, wholesale-to-retail, and privatization of operations”.

I have raised this issue several times during internal training at large brand companies, and it has given direction and determination to many business owners.

Next, I will provide an in-depth interpretation of the underlying principles of these three trends and specific case studies.

WeChat Stores are just a young behemoth. They will not only eat up the market share of mini programs, but will also take away a large piece of the entire e-commerce pie.

Although we have not yet felt the chill on our necks, the ruthless knife is already on its way.

Please keep shivering, which is the greatest respect for WeChat stores and this winter.